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Bursey found guilty, fined $500

By CLIF LeBLANC
Staff Writer

A judge fined longtime Columbia political dissenter Brett Bursey $500 Tuesday, ruling that Bursey broke a federal law designed to shield the president from harm.

Bursey, 55, said he would appeal and called on President Bushís opponents to continue criticizing his policies.


U.S. Magistrate Bristow Marchant acknowledged Bursey was not a threat to Bush during the presidentís Oct. 24, 2002, visit to Columbia. But the judge dismissed Burseyís free speech defense and ruled the protester had no right to be as close to Bush as Bursey wanted in his efforts to show that some South Carolinians opposed his plan to attack Iraq.


"The defendant effectively sealed his own fate when he chose to make his principled stand in a location manifestly reasonable for the Secret Service to make secure," Marchant wrote in a 13-page ruling. Federal prosecutor John Barton said Bursey failed to prove his First Amendment rights were violated.


"He is no hero for First Amendment free speech rights," Barton said after the ruling. "As shown by the judgeís verdict today, heís a criminal."


Bursey, who faced up to six months and a $5,000 fine, told the judge he would not stand for his rights to be "neutralized or sanitized" by the U.S. Secret Service, which sets presidential protection zones.


"I may lose this battle today," Bursey said in a courtroom packed with supporters. "But weíre winning the war over free speech rights in this country."


During a two-day trial in November, Bursey argued that the federal government sought to muzzle his opposition by insulating Bush from political opposition while allowing his supporters closer access. A sign Bursey carried proclaimed, "No more war for oil."


Signs for Republican candidates were allowed in the restricted area, Bursey and his witnesses said. People with tickets were screened by police and allowed inside a hangar at Columbia Metropolitan Airport to hear Bush promote S.C. Republican candidates.


Secret Service agents and local police testified they told Bursey and other protesters to move to a "demonstration zone" about a half-mile from the hangar.


Only Bursey failed to leave the restricted area, became belligerent and was arrested by airport police on a trespassing charge, according to testimony.


Bursey and other protesters testified he was not contentious. They said they were ordered to a "free speech zone" that did not exist and that police kept sending them farther from Bush.


Secret Service agents testified there was no marked protection zone but said police patrolled the area and enforced a clear restricted area. Local police chose the demonstration area.


The state later dropped its trespassing charge against Bursey because he was on public property. Federal prosecutors charged Bursey in March 2003 under a rarely used 1971 law.


Bursey argued that decision showed selective prosecution. The judge disagreed.


Barton said federal officials filed charges because they could not allow anyone to disregard a Secret Service directive.


"There has to be a consequence when people ignore the directions of the Secret Service when theyíre protecting the president of the United States," the prosecutor said.


Bursey has a history of civil disobedience dating to the late 1960s. He served nearly two years in state prison for defacing a military draft office in Columbia in 1971 and has been arrested several times since during antinuclear and other protests.


Reach LeBlanc at (803) 771-8664 or cleblanc@thestate.com.
 


 


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